


O Candlenights Tree

by KikiJ



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Alternate Universe - Benzaiten Steel Lives, Candlenights, Fluff, Holidays, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 18:35:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28231779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KikiJ/pseuds/KikiJ
Summary: Juno and Peter get a very nice tree for the holidays, and spend a quiet evening entertaining family.
Relationships: Peter Nureyev/Juno Steel
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33





	O Candlenights Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Blessed Yule & Happy Candlenights (also happy holidays no matter what you celebrate) I *really* wanted to finish some Jupeter holiday fluff and I finally did, please enjoy~

“Watch out Mista Steel!”

“Watch out? How can I watch out when I can’t see a _damn_ thing?”

“Move it just a bit to the left, dear- _shit_ , no, Juno, to _my_ left. So sorry.”

“ _Nureyev!”_

 _“_ Sorry!”

“Why didn’t it get wrapped up in that netting? All the other trees I’ve had always get wrapped up in that netting, that makes it easier to carry inside...”

“Rita, can you just go make sure the tree stand is in the right place, please?”

“Oh right!”

With that, Rita leaves the doorway as Juno and Peter manage to fit the giant tree across the threshold with just a few more yells of frustration than either of them would like.

Still, five minutes later and the two of them are standing and huffing as Rita is pouring water into the base of the tree stand.

Juno watches her with a twinge of worry in his expression. “Are you sure it’s secure? It’s a fucking _huge_ tree.”

“I think it’s fine, Juno,” Peter adjusts his glasses on his face. “Did we shut the door?”

“No, you did not,” Benzaiten calls out, and then they hear the door shut.

“Oops,” Juno says.

In the doorway to the living room, Benzaiten is standing with a large pot in his arms, flanked by two women who are each carrying a canvas bag.

“Hey, Joelle, Marcie,” Juno greets.

As Benzaiten offers Juno the large pot, Rita flings herself at the two women, who lean down to hug her.

“Hi!” they chorus, but whether it’s towards just Rita or everyone, is unclear. Probably all of them, though. Rita kisses them each in turn. 

“Holy shit, that is a _massive_ tree,” Benzaiten says, staring up at the evergreen to one side of his brother’s living room, situated right in front of the window.

“Yep,” Juno stays. “I mean, we finally have the space for it, so… we figured we’d go all out.”

“And I’m sure it will look even better in a few hours, once the boughs have fallen a bit more,” Peter says, skimming his fingers along some of the needles. “We’ll probably decorate tomorrow, hm, love?”

“Yeah, I’d say,” Juno nods, and smiles.

“Looks like it’s the perfect time to try out my chilli, then,” Ben says, pride in his voice.

“Yaayyy….” Juno says unenthusiastically as he glances down at the pot in his hands.

“Shut up,” Benzaiten says, and Juno grins.

“ _I’m_ excited to try your chilli, Ben,” Rita chirps, and Ben smiles, before she goes on to add, “besides, nothing could be as bad as your Bolognese-”

“Hey!”

“-Or that time Peter tried to make that fancy Venuisen curry,” Rita crinkles her nose.

“Why do you always have to bring _my_ cooking into things?”

“It makes Benzaiten feel better,” Juno says.

“I’m really not that bad, though,” Peter sulks.

“Sure,” Ben says, and Peter shoots him a weak look.

“Any _hoo_ ,” Juno says with a certain finality, “I’m gonna get this on the stove. Babe, you wanna go cut up that nice loaf we picked up this morning?”

“Of course,” Peter says.

“That really is a nice tree,” Joelle comments, and Marcie nods her head.

“Is there anything we can do to help?” Marcie asks, and they all start to migrate into the kitchen after Juno and Peter.

Benzaiten is sitting at the kitchen Island, and Rita at the table. Marcie joins Rita, and Joelle goes to lean next to Ben.

“No, you’re guests! Relax,” Juno tells them.

“Oh, my manners,” Peter huffs, “would any of you like something to drink?”

“Oh! Do you still have that wine I brought over last weekend?” Rita asks.

“Okay, Rita, you’re family, you can get your own damn drink. And of course we do, you know neither Peter or I like sparkling wine.”

“Oh, you don’t?” Rita asks innocently as she presses her lips together. “Gals, you want some wine?”

“Sure, doll,” “Yeah, I’d love some!” Joelle and Marcie chime as Rita hops off her seat to grab the sparkling wine from the fridge where she left it.

“Hey, Rita, wanna mix me a drink while you’re at it?” Juno asks with a smirk, stirring the reheating chili. Rita shoots him a look.

“Fine,” she sighs. “Who else wants what?”

Rita collects drink orders and Ben gets up to help her, perhaps out of pity, and then Joelle offers to put on some music. She connects her comms to the speaker so they can listen to some Candlenights music.

Peter grabs bowls and small plates for the chili and bread, and then gets the utensils.

“Y’know what, Ben?” Juno says, holding a small spoon in his hand, “this really isn’t too bad.”

“Gee, just what you want to hear when you toiled over a hot stove for hours,” Ben says, throwing a hand dramatically on his forehead.

“It’s _good_ , Ben,” Juno assures him, and Ben smiles as he hands Juno his drink, “It’s also not _quite_ warmed, yet, but close.”

Ben goes to sit at the table with Marcie. Rita and Joelle migrate over as well. Peter grates some cheese for sprinkling on top of the chilli, and then goes to hug Juno from behind.

“Oooh, I love this song,” Peter murmurs into Juno’s shoulder, and Juno smiles as Peter hums the song against his skin.

“It’s sort of odd for a Holiday tune, but,” Juno shrugs, and then bends away so he can turn and wrap his arms around Peter.

The other four are conversing among themselves, so Juno takes a moment to kiss his husband sweetly. Peter smiles against his lips, his hands on Juno’s hips as he sways them to the music.

Juno chuckles and leans back, moving slowly as the song changes over to something a bit more apt for dancing. Peter takes his hand and gets Juno to twirl, which makes them both chuckle softly before Peter spins him back around and kisses him once more.

Somehow, they’re lucky enough that neither of their family members noticed, because they’d certainly be called out for their sappy antics otherwise.

“I need to keep stirring so nothing gets stuck or scorches,” Juno says, patting Peter’s shoulder and turning around to grab his wooden spoon.

“Fine,” Peter sighs dramatically, kissing Juno on the shoulder once more before he goes to join the others at the table.

Juno turns towards the group and tries to pick up on their conversation, joining in a moment later once he understands the direction it’s going. He continues to stir and checks the temperature again in a few minutes.

“Perfect,” Juno mumbles, and then nods. He switches off the burner. “Alright, folks, she’s done!”

“Yessss,” “hell yeah,” “oh thank god, I’m starving,” and a couple other enthused responses follow.

Juno calls everyone to bring their bowls over to get dinner served, and then they all sit back down at the table.

“Oh, the cheese,” Ben says right before he sits, running over to grab it and bring it over for everyone.

They begin to eat, and Ben grins and holds his head high at the compliments he receives before they dive into another conversation, about decorations and then onto whether they prefer traditional pop Candlenights songs, or the more soft-indie ones of recent years, or perhaps that odd period a few years ago with that neo-neo-classical sound everyone was going for. 

They cut the debate off before it gets heated and Juno gets Rita started on her favourite holiday streams, which lasts the rest of the dinner conversation.

Marcie and Joelle insist on washing and drying the dishes, so Rita volunteers to put them away.

“Okay,” Juno says slowly, “only if you _promise_ to put them back in the right place.”

“I know where everything goes, Mista Steel,” Rita waves him off.

Juno refills drinks for himself, his brother, and his husband before they drift into the living room again to admire the tree and curl up on the couch.

The tree decorations are stacked against the wall in boxes because _blessedly_ they remembered to take them out of storage pre-emptively. Pretty good for a first Candlenights in their new house, hopefully they can keep up the momentum.

Juno says as much, and Peter smirks.

“I mean, it has been going shockingly well, hasn’t it? Well, aside from the fiasco getting the tree into the door.”

“Well, yeah, but that only took like 10 minutes in the grand scheme of things. It could be a lot worse.”

“So much worse,” Ben says. “Remember that time when we were twelve?”

“God, don’t even,” Juno says, and Peter perks a brow.

“Oh, is that when you-”

“I’m just gonna assume yes,” Juno says, “we are _not_ getting into that story tonight.”

“What story?” Rita asks, as she and Marcie and Joelle trail in.

“Also, are we feeling ready for pie, soon? Jo and I brought two options!” Marcie says.

“Forget the story, it’s pie time,” Juno says as he stands up. “I can go start cutting it.”

“Yay! Pie!” Rita says with a grin as she lifts her wine glass to her lips again.

“There’s a pumpkin cheesecake pie, Rita’s favourite, and a caramel apple pie because who doesn’t love a classic?” Joelle explains. 

“Who wants what?” Juno yells from the kitchen. Everyone shouts at once. “One at a time!” Juno calls again.

“Pumpkin cheesecake,” Rita yell.

“Obviously.”

“I would like that as well, dear,” Peter says.

“Apple,” Ben nods.

“Me too, apple,” Marcie says.

“Hm. Can I have a half slice of both?” Joelle asks.

“Sure thing,” Juno says. “Y’know what, I’ll do that too.”

When the pie is all plated, Juno demands everyone come get it because he’s not about to carry that many plates in, and they all agree, and end up eating at the kitchen island, chatting again about the winter activities they’re looking forward to.

Juno tells them to leave the dessert plates, insisting he can tidy them later, and they move back to the living room. Peter grabs some matches to light a few candles, wanting to be true to the name of the holiday they’re preparing to celebrate.

After another hour or so of chatter, their family and friends start to pack up and leave.

“I can’t _wait_ to see it decorated,” Rita says about the tree as she wraps her scarf back around her neck. Joelle is pulling her boots on and Marcie zips up her coat.

“Me either,” Juno says, he and Peter standing near the doorway to see their guests out. Peter is grinning, too, glancing back at the tree.

“Maybe we can put the lights on, tonight,” Peter murmurs thoughtfully. Then, he’s on the receiving end of a final hug from Rita, so he hugs her back before she squeezes Juno, too. It’s only a second later he gets a hug from Benzaiten, and briefer ones from Rita’s girlfriends.

Peter and Juno wave and promise to send pictures of their tree once it’s decked out for the season, in addition to promising to see everyone again soon.

Once the door is shut behind their family, Juno and Peter turn to one another.

Smiling, their lips meet in a kiss.

“Happy Holidays, baby,” Juno says.

“We’re still weeks away,” Peter laughs.

“Well, _technically_ , Candlenights can be celebrated at any time between November and December, sometimes even into January,” Juno argues.

“Yes, according to the early practitioners, but most celebrate on the 27th of December to make it easier.”

“Yeah, to market,” Juno teases, and Peter shrugs.

“Or to get everyone together on the same day,” Peter points out, and Juno just chuckles. “Happy Candlenights, dear,” Peter adds softly a moment later.

“I love you,” Juno says. Then he glances over, “and I _love_ our tree.”

“Isn’t it just fantastic?” Peter asks, eyes sparkling. Juno nods eagerly, and they both trail towards it.

Their tree stands tall and proud as they both gaze up at it. Any further comments die on their tongues as they both think about all the things they thought they’d never have, like a _house_ , like a _home_ , like a tree that fits the space they have, and people to share the joy of the season with.


End file.
